Dec 12th 2019

710 corporations paid $0 tax on almost half a trillion revenue

One third of the largest corporations in Australia paid $0 tax in 2017-18, stunning new data released by the Australian Tax Office reveals.

This years data revealed 710 tax avoiding corporations had a combined total revenue of $458,632,686,428, and taxable incomes of $10,617,889,645.00. They include:

  • Woodside Petroleum: $0 tax on $6.3 billion revenue, $1.2 billion taxable income
  • Shell Energy Holdings: $0 tax on $4.5 billion revenue, $200 million taxable income
  • Atlassian: $0 tax on $1 billion in revenue, $138 million taxable income
  • Goldman Sachs: $0 tax on $480 million revenue, $14 million taxable income
  • Chevron: $0 tax on $5.2 billion revenue
  • Santos: $0 tax on 3.4 billion revenue

It’s clear that the government has had little success in cracking down on corporate tax dodgers, as 100 companies have paid $0 in tax over the last five years.  

GetUp Campaigns Director Ed Miller said the ATO data shows successive governments have failed to deal with corporate tax cheats:

“People are sick of waking up each December to find out they’ve personally contributed more tax than massive corporations like Exxonmobil and Goldman Sachs.

“Wages have flatlined, everyday people are feeling the brunt of a stagnating economy and still paying more tax than some of the worlds biggest corporations. It’s just not fair.

“There are people working part time on Newstart who are contributing more tax than these corporate tax cheats. The Morrison Government should be ashamed.”

“Our broken tax system is one of the main reasons inequality is skyrocketing and more than three million people in this country are forced to live in poverty.

“When a third of the biggest corporations are getting away with not paying a single cent of tax, it’s clear something in the system is seriously broken.

“It’s time for the Morrison Government to step up and force these corporations to contribute their fair share.”

 

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